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| I love this song, I really really do. Not only is it four of the greater voices in classic country, they're singing a song with beautiful melody and lyrics. Just have a listen, will you? It's really worth it.
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| I'm working on my essay and feeling a bit blue.
I had a slice of cake and now I'm craving something salty like crisps or popcorn. Now, this craving is most likely a procrastination attempt by my subconscious. It's sort of working because I keep glancing at the kitchen, where there is no crisps but I do have some microwave popcorn stashed away...
I also went to see how my house is coming on. The kitchen is done and gorgeous as is the bathroom.
Back to the essay now ::sigh:: | |
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| It's by Jeff Buckley I think? Or was it Leonard Cohen. I'm pretty sure it's Jeff Buckley but I'm at work and they blocked all the lyrics pages and youtube so I can't check. The good thing is they are not familiar with livejournal so I still have you guys ::waves at flist:: Anyway, it's the one that goes- I heard there was a secret chord,
that David played and it pleased the Lord
but you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
you saw her bathing on the roof
her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you to her kitchen chair,
she broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah
Dadum I've been here before
I've seen this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before i knew you.
I've seen your flag on the Marble Arch
but love is not a victory march,
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah
Maybe there's a god above
but all i've ever learned from love
is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
It's not a cry that you hear at night,
it's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.I think I'm missing a couple of verses...I'm oddly good at remembering lyrics, especially when I love the song, but this song is particularly confusing for me. I mean, I get some things wrong, and I miss words here and there because I'm not google but yeah...lyrics: I remember them, I quote them, my friends use me as a reference library when they can't access the internet. ::shrug:: In other news: the house, it is nearly done. The kitchen is just about ready for the appliances to be installed, the bathroom is awaiting the plumber to finish putting the faucetts in and the painters should be coming next week. So, fingers crossed, it should be done by the end of the month. Or, to be more realistic, by the middle of next month. Because contractors are either very good liars or very optimistic people. I shall now get back to my never-ending to-do list! Send me speedy construction wishes, would you? ::smile:: ETA. Came home and found the song on youtube. It was indeed the Jeff Buckley version that I remember. I'm posting it under the cut for those who want to have a listen! ( The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift ) | |
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| This is a gorgeous, gorgeous song and the singer has a gorgeous, gorgeous voice. It's in French so I've added a translation under the cut for those who want to know what they're listening to. ( lyrics in english ) | |
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| I'm watching again and hey, look, it's Rupert Graves! I didn't recognise him at first, what with being an unwashed, unshaved, un-loads-of-things homeless homicidal schizophrenic. Then he shaved and cleaned up and oh but he's gorgeous even if he is homicidal. Made me miss Lestrade and his wayward hair. | |
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| I'm watching it right now and I'm all curious: What's George's accent? I can't place it. It's familiar to me but I can't for the life of me remember where I heard it or who from! | |
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| The weather has finally changed. It is now of a spring-like disposition. Now, since spring here lasts all of three weeks before it's suddenly summer, I'm enjoying it while it lasts. To that end, here's my very favourite spring song ::beams at flist:: Hope you like it too!
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| I've been watching 'The Mentalist' lately. It's on repeat and I got hooked. Anyone out there know where I can find Jane/Cho fics? I've been sort of craving it.
I also went to see Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. I may have strongarmed a couple of friends into going but it wasn't all that hard since it was either that or Thatcher and, well... not much of a choice, yes? Anyway, it was an absolutely amazing film. I'm not much of a le Carre fan but this one I liked. Mostly because of Gary Oldman (he was very un-Oldman in this one but oh but he was good!) and Benedict Cumberbatch (it's all about the voice, people. That and the little half-smile he has going). Colin Firth wasn't far behind. I'd go into why but I don't want to spoil anyone who may have missed it and I can't be bothered to ljcut. I liked the pace of the film too, it felt urgent and unhurried all at once.
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| No reason why I've not been writing recently. Just...didn't feel like it I suppose. I'd wander about the internet with no urge to stop anywhere. Like when you go window shopping and feel no urge to go into the stores. Then, as I was writing this report for work, I suddenly realised how much I miss you all. So yeah, I'm sorry I keep disappearing on you. If there's anyone out there still reading this: Hi, there. Hope your day was/is/will be good [delete as appropriate for your time zone ::smile::]. Short update: - Work is ridiculously busy. I'd tell you why but I've been told it's only interesting if you're me so, eh.
- The master's is even more ridiculously busy except, unlike work, I'm falling behind, which is freaking me the hell out.
- The house renovation is on hold because the cement factory workers are on strike. No cement = no way to fix the house = no estimated time of completion. It's not even that big a house! It's sized like a largish flat! It's not supposed to take this long to renovate!!
- The niece and nephew get more precious by the hour. The niece brought me a Dora the Explorer cartoon she coloured yesterday, all excited because she coloured within the lines. Of course, Dora was mostly green, with bits of purple but hey, it was within the lines. This is progress! The nephew is still speaking a mixture of baby talk and proper words which I find amusing and he finds frustrating, especially when he wants something and people don't understand what he's trying to say. He has mastered the tug-and-point move, whereby he grabs your wrist, tugs until you're positioned where he wants you to be and proceeds to point at what he wants, then repeat the word until you understand what he's trying to say. The fact that I laugh while he does this alternately amuses him and annoys him.
- The love life remains DOA. 'Nuff said.
- Health is fine if you don't count the allergy. The atmosphere is full of dust particles from the Sahara brought in by strong winds (like millions of evil Mary Poppins) and I'm allergic enough to go into coughing fits which means that my voice is all but gone, my throat hurts and I'm on both antihistamines and cortisone pills.
Went to Marks and Sparks to have a look at a lamp shade today at lunch time (Didn't like the look of it in the end. It's pretty but too fragile). Went by Starbucks on the way back to work because even though it's not 'real' coffee, it has caffeine in it and I like the taste of it. Plust, the handsome barista wrote 'Get well soon' on my coffee cup, which made me smile and made the enforced whispering a tiny bit less annoying for a bit. I've come to find that random handsome men always make life a little bit less annoying. If only there were more of them in my daily life. ::grin::
I also have the dustman song in my head. No surprises why ::grin:: Anyone know it? It's an old Brit song. I first heard it on one of my dad's old cassette tapes. It's the one that goes "Oh, my old man's a dustman. He wears a dustman's hat. He wears cor'blimey trousers and he lives in a Council flat"
On that note, I shall get back to work. For, as one of my favourite poems goes, 'I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep'. | |
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| Okay, first: my house is now only walls and floors. No doors, no windows, no cupboards, no kitchen ::grin:: I never thought I'd be this excited about the complete destruction of the interior of a house but this means it's all started! I can now imagine what it will be like when it's done! ::bounces::
Second: The niece has taken to declaring that I do not love her. I counter, of course. Repeatedly. Mum thinks maybe she's feeling a bit insecure because her dad's parents are a bit absent nowadays. Then there's all the studying and rushing about looking for houseware that I've been doing, so she may be feeling a wee bit neglected on my side. Plus, she's the independent sort and the nephew is the cuddly kind so he clambers up on whoever he wishes to hug (cutest toddler habit ever!) and she may be envious of all the hugs. She does get loads of hugs, mind you, because she's that cute, though she does protest that 'she doesn't want hugs, go away'. Anyway, I've amped up the love-yous and the attention so hopefully she'll come around. | |
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| So I've been saving Merlin to watch when I move into my house. Of course, I started that back when I thought I'd be in for Christmas so I'm not sure whether I'll hold out until I actually move in. Regardless, I haven't watched one single, solitary episode of season 4. And I've been very good about not reading spoilers, including reading fics. I've even avoided AUs that reference the eps. So you can imagine how bloody annoyed I am that, as I was reading the summary, the freaking summary of a fic, I found myself reading that the fic was written before season 4 so ( cut for spoilers ) | |
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| Happy mini-holiday to the lovely Yanks on my flist. I wish I had the day off too!
Does the Christmas-countdown start now? What's up with the Turkey tradition? Also, do people really do that thing where you stuff one bird in another and then stuff that in a turkey and cook them and eat them all up? Also, if you have turkey at Thanksgiving, what do you have at Christmas? AND, who picked the date for Thanksgiving day? And why this date and not one earlier in November so that Autumn is split up between that and Christmas? Inquiring minds want to know!
We're easy over here, Christmas dinner can be turkey or goose or chicken or...well, pretty much anything that catches your fancy for Christmas dinner. My Armenian friends have fish, I think and the Brits have roasted chestnuts and potatoes and other Christmassy foods and that awful, awful pudding that, I think, inspired our Christmas cake that is usually fruit cake with marzipan on top. Blechh...I loathe fruit cake. When I was little I used to sneak bits of marzipan off the top until the cake was all naked. Anyway, we even do the coin-in-the-cake thing, although that's for New Year's cake not for Christmas cake and whoever finds it is supposedly lucky all year round.
And now I shall do some serious, boring work. Because it must be done and I am the one who must do it. | |
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| The news, they are good! Remember when I said I was going to get my gran's house fixed up so I could move in? Well, construction people are finally going in to work! So roughly four months from now I will be home! YAY! That is all I was too excited not to share ::grin:: Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad. | |
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| I hate, loathe and despise head colds. The fuzzy head feeling is the worst part because, you may be breathing fine, not coughing and generally just feeling a bit colder than usual but still, you can do nothing, because your head is all stuffed with clouds and all you want to do is sleep. I do not have time to be sick, I have work reports and uni reports to do and I have bathware to find, damnit!
Who was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to do a remodel at the same time as a degree and work?
Ah, yes. That would be me. ::despairs of self::
On the plus side...I have discovered the joys of hazelnut coffee. And Starbucks has their Toffee Nut Latte out, which may not be 'real coffee' but it's yummy with caffeine in it so who cares. ::grin:: | |
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| ...and I'm hoping that singing this song ::points to icon:: in my head will make it bearable. Boring, frustrating, loooooooooooong meeting coming up in an hour and I'm already tired of that shit...Thus the singing. I have a theory that you cannot sing that song and not cheer up. Which is kinda ironic since it's mocking songs that are supposed to do that but hey, inadvertent effects are always more interesting than the expected ones! | |
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| Worked an eleven hour day...am so tired I might sleep standing up, much like a horse. The only thing that kept me going is coffee. Wonderful, precious coffee. I am a sleep zombie. Instead of chanting 'Brains' I am chanting 'Sleep'.
That is all. | |
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| since I keep disappearing again. ::sheepish grin:: I've decided to try to do at least one post a day, hoping it will help me get back on the swing of online things. I miss you guys, I really do. So, because I've made the decision but I'm so very tired today (day two of three consecutive days of all-day meetings ::sigh::) I shall do a meme. Shut up, it's not cheating if it has info in it ::smirk::
SIX NAMES YOU GO BY:
1) Natia
2) Nat (easy, yes?)
3) Nashville (for the classic country that I like, which is a rarity in a Med island!)
4) Nash (because Nashville is too long apparently!)
5) Shushi (though only for my little sis which is good beacuse there are ahem...fishy connotations :p)
6) Natka (for my mum, who went to uni in Moscow and picked up some Russian diminutives ::grin::)
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1) Snoopy fleece top (warm and toasty is me)
2) Comfy jeans (though now they have yogurt on them after an enthusiastic hug from the nephew)
3) Colourful undies (because looking serious on the surface but colourful me underneath!)
THREE THINGS YOU WANT VERY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1) Something sweet, though I can't decide on what kind of sweet I want.
2) A day off, so I can sleep in. Or at least try to.
3) Christmas.
THREE THINGS YOU DID LAST NIGHT:
1) Had dinner (leftovers but good ones!)
2) Read Sherlock fic (Just before bed)
3) Watched CSI Las Vegas on the telly (It was eh...Might give up on it...again)
THREE PEOPLE YOU LAST TALKED TO ON THE PHONE:
1) Mum (Home stuff)
2) Contractor for house renovation work (Work stuff)
3) Best Friend The First (Godson stuff)
THREE THINGS YOU ARE GOING TO DO TOMORROW:
1) Have yet another all-day meeting (Blah)
2) Finish the sessional report for the dreaded Masters degree (Sigh)
3) Play with niece and nephew (Yay!)
FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE DRINKS:
1) Coffee! Any kind of coffee! Caffeine cures most ills dontcha know.
2) Coca Cola (not pepsi, not generic cola, they taste different)
3) Fruit juice (the type depends on my mood)
4) Beer! Not the American kind, the good kind!
THREE THINGS THAT MADE YOU SMILE TODAY:
1) Silly joke a friend from work said....it was all in the delivery
2) The niece and nephew (Nephew has a habit of yelling out HUG! then running at you until he either hugs you or swerves at the last moment and snickers at you)
3) Coffee...first coffee of the day alwaysmakes me smile.
There. I'm posting this. Now all I have to do is do a post tomorrow as well. ::is determined:: | |
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| I've been studying. I'm bored of studying. I want to write something. Except every time I try to think of fanficcy things, either work or coursework pops up in my head and I start typing about draft bills and better regulation and how interest groups affect the policy process.
I haven't written for fun IN MONTHS! ::headdesk:: My writing is doomed. By the time I get the MA done, it'll be completely gone from my head. ::headdesk again:: I won't even be able to write a drabble. I used to love writing drabbles! ::headdesk again:: | |
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| I just realised that I haven't posted since before the big German holiday so quick note to say this:
The holiday was absolutely, positively, unbelievably brilliant. Great fun was had by all. The wedding was a smash. The party after the wedding was...frenetic, shall we say? Who knew Germans could party like that? Not me. Now I know better.
My birthday was less fun by comparison because going out with a dozen friends for a nice dinner is lovely but it's not a wedding in Germany with a bunch of insane Germans ::grin:: This is not to say that my birthday was miserable. It was lovely and full of laughter and half an ipad2. By which I mean, my friends handed me an envelope with a birthday card full of wishes and a bunch of cash so that I could "stop whining and get the damn ipad". I may have been dithering about that throughout the Germany trip ::blush:: The other half is being paid by my election duty overtime so I can pretend it's not really coming out of my monthly income. I can fool myself if I want. Really, I can!
Back at work now, thought it's fairly quiet at my end. They're all talking about the financial crisis and the measures that must be taken to alleviate the effects and I'm in no way involved with that. On the plus side, I can get some studying done for the masochistic MA. On the minus side, they might end up decreasing salaries (including mine of course) by anything from 4.25 to 9.75 per cent. I wish they'd get on with it because I need to take out a loan to fix the little house I'll be living in and I can't do that until I know how much income they'll leave me with!
The niece and nephew are as adorable as ever. Though the nephew is entirely too much like me at his age. He's only 16 months and he managed to climb up a ladder, nearly succeeded in launching himself out the window (ground floor but still!) and attempted to go swimming by himself no less than four times in two beach-dwelling hours. I should note, he is entirely too pleased with himself about all of that. My sister keeps looking accusingly at me ::snicker:: But hey! I wasn't the one who wanted kids! If I ever do have any however, I wish they'd take after sis. She was a nice, non-dangerous child but was still cute and smart enough to be interesting. ::grin::
The other sis is buggering off to London for a year for various reasons including a job and an MEd (apparently I'm not the only masochist in the family). She switches between excitement at going and disappointment about all the things she'll miss. I already have a plane ticket to go visit her in December. Free accommodation and London at Christmas! What else does a girl need?!
Huh...this turned out not to be quick at all....funny, that. | |
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| Dear Sherlock: Breathing is only boring if you're doing it right. I'm find it it very exciting, myself ::pout::
I'm off to Germany in a few hours though, so fuck that, I'll be fine ::grin:: See you guys when I get back! | |
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| Hope your weather is better than mine, flist! Heatwave, humidity and after the explosion that took out a big chunk of our electricity production with it we don't turn on more than one a/c in the house during the day. My allergies and not-asthma are kicking in too so I have the whole package of red blotches and itchiness on random patches of skin and having trouble taking in proper breaths. ::is not a happy puppy:: Doc put me back on daily antihistamines for the duration of the heatwave. They don't fix things completely but they do ease up the symptoms so I can breathe when I step out of the a/c-ed room.
On the plus side, being stuck in one room means that I can work on my Master's with fewer distractions! Yeah, I'm not really elated about that but it's what I've got right now.
BUT! BUT I SAY! I'm off to Germany for a good friend's wedding on Wednesday. Well, I say Wednesday but it's really ridiculously early on Thursday morning.
I still want an art nouveau lj but I have yet to try and figure out how to get it or even find images for it. I shall work on that either this week or when I get back from Germany! | |
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What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Would you lend me your ears so I'd sing you a song if I promised to try not to sing out of key?
::grin::
I'd say that was all but then I thought that now that I have art nouveau icons I want an art nouveau lj. Any idea where I can get me headers and all that stuff from? Even a mood theme! I could try and make a mood theme I suppose but I've no idea how to make an entire lj whatchamacallit. ::hopeful look::
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| One: This random crying shit has got to stop. I left work early on Friday and then got mum worried yesterday. Not to mention, I do not like being held hostage by my own body. I don't let it do that to me with migraines, I'm not happy with tears getting in the way. I don't cry, generally speaking, I'm not a cryer. Not like it's like that all the time. I had a lovely dinner with friends on Thursday, not a drop of tears. And yesterday I went out for coffee and today I'm going to my cousin's to play cards. So, not always crumbling into tears. Two: I'm distracting myself by working on my uni stuff and reading Sherlock fanfic. I've come across some comments about The Blind Banker being racist and sexist. I don't get it. There was a smuggling ring. It so happened to have been Chinese. It could have been a Columbian drug cartel or a French art smuggling ring. Why assign the criminal's nationality more importance in this episode? As for sexist...I liked Sarah! She was mostly calm under pressure, helped them figure out things and was not killed off. How is that sexist? And okay, Sally Donovan's a bit of a bitch but pffft, to that. Sherlock didn't think any worse of her than he did of Anderson for cheating on his wife. What were they supposed to do, making one of the boys female? Who, Mycroft? Lestrade? John? Sherlock himself? Not to mention, I can't imagine Moffat being sexist. He wrote Coupling for fuck's sake! All this talk is making me want to rewatch the episode. It's been a while and maybe I missed something? Three: I have new icons! ![[info]](http://l-files.livejournal.net/userhead/657?v=1328879641) tabaqui made me some art nouveau icons. This is one of them! LOOK! PRETTY! | |
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